On startups and grownups: You can't fake authenticity

On startups and grownups: You can't fake authenticity

April 25, 2014

Sam Yagan has a simple way to tell if you're sufficiently passionate about the company you work for: T-shirts.

"I don't want to have a job where I don't want to wear the T-shirt," Mr. Yagan, a three-time entrepreneurwho now is CEO of Match Group, told an Executives' Club audience last night at Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. while sporting a Match.com T-shirt under his blazer.

In a broad-ranging discussion with fellow entrepreneurs Chuck Templeton and Howard Tullman, he offered a secret about relationship building: "Start by asking what you can do for them, doing them a favor," Mr. Yagan said.

Howard Tullman

Mr. Tullman, CEO of 1871Vand a serial entrepreneur who's prolific on social media, offered some sharp observations on its limitations. He described LinkedIn, if used indiscriminately, as "a system where we can harass an unlimited number of people."

"I think it's detrimental to building quality relationships," he said. "What we end up with is something a mile wide and an inch deep."